The Hidden Art of Homemaking: Chapter 9–”Writing–Prose and Poetry”

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When I realized that the next chapter in Hidden Art was about writing, I’ll admit that I was none too eager to read it.  That’s pretty crazy, considering the fact that I am a blogger (and as M.K. so eloquently points out, Schaeffer would probably adore the whole blogging phenomenon).  I think my dread has something to do with the fact that while I greatly value writing, I’m finding such a hard time making time to do it thoughtfully and well in this season of life.  This is so much the case that I can’t even fathom having time to do some of the more mundane (“hidden”) writing tasks she suggests:  letters, notes in lunchboxes, even.  Here’s a confession:  Lulu turned nine last month, and one of the things I really wanted to do for her was write her a very personal letter for her birthday.  However, her birthday happens to fall around Mother’s Day, and life begins to speed up considerably for us toward the middle of May and through June.  It’s probably needless for me to say this, but I didn’t write the letter.  I still haven’t written the letter.  Steady Eddie and I are celebrating our fourteenth anniversary tomorrow, and I had plans of writing something meaningful to give to him. Have I done it?  No.  (This begs the question:  why am I blogging instead of writing a passionate love letter to my precious husband?  The answer:  time and inclination.  I can’t just dash something like this off, and lately the pace of our life doesn’t lend itself to the quiet contemplation something like that would require of me, alas.)  For this post, though, instead of continuing to harp on my inability to do what I really, really want to do, I thought I’d take a little trip down memory lane.

One thing among many that stands out in my memory about my grandmother is that she kept a diary.  Now this wasn’t a pour-your-heart-out, tell-all kind of journal; instead, it was merely a record of what she and my grandfather did from day to day.  Actually, it is a rather boring collection of documents, except for those of us intimate with the way they spent their days.  I like to go back and see who came to visit them and what they ate for dinner and what Papaw had recently spent money on.  My grandfather died when I was about twenty, and Granny died when Lulu was almost one and I was newly pregnant with Louise.  I’m not sure into whose hands these diaries have fallen, but I think I’ll find out.

I wrote a good bit as a teen and young adult.  My one and only attempt at a short story (well, except for the one I wrote in about the third grade entitled “The Spider That (Almost) Conquered a City”) I entered in a talent competition held by our church’s denomination.  My story placed at state and went on to the national competition.  I’m sure now that I’d read it with a measure of embarrassment and liken it to the “bad” Christian fiction that I avoid nowadays, but still–it was something.  I also kept journals, most of which I would cause me to die of embarrassment were anyone to actually read.  However, one journal I’m happy I kept is the one in which I divulged all the secret joys of my budding relationship with Steady Eddie.  It’s not completely without the recorded angst of young love, but mostly it’s just a record of the progression of our relationship until we were married.  I’m very, very thankful I had the time (and took it!) to keep that journal.

I was also a letter writer as a kid.  I had several international pen-pals, most notably one from Sweden and one from Sri Lanka.  My Swedish penpal and I wrote each other for years until we outgrew the practice.  I acquired both Asa and Neelangi as penpals thanks to International Youth Services, an organization which I learned through a quick Google search ended its operations as a match-maker for epistolary youth back in 2008.  This is taken from the now-defunct IYS website:

“IYS will be closing down this summer, by 30th June 2008

The International Youth Service (IYS) has been operating since 1952, over 56 years now. We have arranged foreign pen friends for school children and students aged 10 – 20 years in over 100 different countries.

The Internet has lead to a situation where sending ordinary letters is old-fashioned. Letter writing, once very popular, is now a hobby of a few.

We have come to the end of a certain period. As we can not find enough young people interested in penfriendship any more, we have decided to close down this firm by 30th June 2008.

We thank all our customers, both children and teachers, in past years and wish you happy times. Don’t stop learning different languages and cultures and keep up those penfriendships you have managed to build up.

The staff of INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE”

 

I admit this takes me a bit by surprise, only because I guess I saw this organization as an institution that would never go away.  In retrospect, though, it makes sense:  why pen a letter when one can, with a few clicks of a mouse, send a missive into cyberspace and have a reply from halfway around the world in a matter of a very few minutes?

Another letter-writing practice I had as an old teen and young adult came about as a result of a letter-to-the-editor of Reminisce magazine.  I very naively sent a letter, which they published, in which I identified myself as a sixteen year old girl who loved “old timey” things and particularly loved Anne of Green Gables and all things L.M. Montgomery.  Well, I got responses by the big black garbage bag full!  (And out of all the responses, I only got one–ONE–from a man with nefarious intentions.  That’s amazing.)  I even acquired an elderly gentleman (this one with the best of intentions) as a penpal.  He enjoyed writing, and he shared everything from his poetry and favorite books to tales of his and his wife’s life in a state far north of Alabama.  His letters were long and chatty–very L.M. Montgomery-esque.  The last letter he wrote to me before I married was particularly poignant and beautifully written.  Alas, I have also fallen out of contact with him, but it was a lot of fun while it lasted.   (Lest this sounds really weird in this beknighted world in which the experienced prey upon the young and innocent, let me assure you that he always treated me as a far-away granddaughter, and I greatly valued his friendship.)

Well, this post on writing (which, remember, I dreaded the thought of) has gone on too long already.  In an effort to steer this disorganized jumble of thoughts back to what inspired it to begin with, I wanted to mention that this chapter actually contains the most straightforward delineation between hidden versus unhidden art.  Schaeffer says,

All art, whether ‘Hidden Art’ or Career Art, involves time, a giving of time to produce the art, and the communication which results from the art, whatever form it takes.  (140)

This delineation was probably hinted at in other chapters, but this is the first time I noticed Schaeffer making the forthright distinction between Hidden versus Career.

And so this brings me back around to my original thought:  that as much as I appreciate writing, nay, as much as I need to write, the missing ingredient for me right now is time.  I know, I know–this is a season that will soon be past.  I’m just doing what I can to keep a little tiny spark alive.  (Of note since I first began this post: I have stopped a minimum of three times–probably more like four or five–and restarted.  If it’s jumbled, that’s but one of the reasons.)

I’m linking up with The Hidden Art of Homemaking bookclub at Ordo Amoris.  For my bookclub posts, go here.

The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley

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My feelings for Flavia DeLuce haven’t changed since I read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  I certainly don’t consider myself a hardcore mystery lover, mostly because I can almost hear my brain creaking as it makes the sudden stops and quick reversals necessary to keep up with a complicated whodunnit.    Although the Flavia DeLuce stories are most decidedly mysteries, I obviously read them for their wit and characterization.  The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag is no exception.  The mystery itself revolves a love affair gone bad and, of all things, a puppeteer who is most likely not on the up and up.  As usual, I mostly didn’t see the resolution coming at all.  In the case of these mysteries I think it’s more because I’m too busy enjoying Bradley‘s style to pick up on any clues.  Truthfully, I don’t care that I don’t see it coming; I enjoy the prose too much!  Here are a few samples of what I love so much about his writing:

Far above my head, countless beams of sunshine slanting in through the open ports dappled the curving walls with dots of yellow light.  It was as if I had stepped into the colander in which some giant strained his soup bones.  (80)

Isn’t that a delicious description?

Requiem?  I thought.  Do I really want to scramble up into a brick cell with a woman who is at best more than a little inebriated , at worst a homicidal maniac?

I hauled myself up into the gloom.   (81)

Flavia’s moxie is what makes her my favorite eleven year old sleuth.  I’m sure I’ll get back to Flavia sooner or later, when I’m in need of a bit of mental stimulation in the form of an eleven year old chemist who also solves mysteries before the adults in her life have even picked up on the first clue.  That she shows a vulnerable side once in a while caught me by surprise in this story, but I’m coming to like her family more and more, too, thanks to this new insight.  Flavia gets high marks in my book.  (Delacorte, 2010)

 

Friday’s Fave Five

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This has been a week that seems mostly to be characterized by this sort of thing:

This afternoon I’m going to accentuate the positive because lots of good things have happened, too!  Here are my favorite five happenings of the week:

1.  Swimming.  Last summer we swam a lot, but since Benny is still so young, we haven’t managed to swim as much so far this summer.  On Monday our youth pastor and his wife invited us over to swim in their pool.  They have two boys that are close in age to Louise and the DLM, and we enjoy spending time with them.  I took along our supper to share with them and we had an impromptu picnic on their patio, and a good time was had by all.  Then on Thursday, we dropped Benny off to stay with my parents and headed out to my cousin’s home to swim for the afternoon.  My sister and nephew joined us, and again, a good time was had by all.  My cousin’s pool is situated right by their large pond, which creates the ideal environment for my fishing-crazy nephew.  He wet a line right before we left, and both my girls got to reel in a bass.

Louise took a turn on their old-fashioned rope swing just before we left to pick up Benny.  Ah, country life!

2.  A looker for our house.  I got a call mid-morning on Wednesday from our real estate agent asking if we could be ready to show our house that evening.  YES!  This was all because of . . .

3.  Help from family.  On Saturday Nana watched the three eldest children and my aunt and parents came to help us clean our house and make it more presentable for the real estate website photos.  We definitely couldn’t have done it without them.  I am so enjoying living in a house that’s neat and tidy!

4.  Time in the Word.  The girls and I started out Bible Bee Sword Study this week.  There’s been a bit of a learning curve and I’m still not as consistent with it as I need to be (still trying to go with the flow with an infant and a just-turned-three-year-old, too), but what we’ve done so far has been rich.  It did my heart good to see my girls up and doing a bit of study on their own one morning.

5.  Library programs.  Fridays are our summertime library days.  This morning we attended a program by the Natural History Educational Company.  This was our third or fourth year to attend one of these programs, and as always, it didn’t disappoint.  Because I got the starting time mixed up, we missed part of the program, but we did get to see an opossum, a raccoon, and a bobcat.

We also had some unexpected company today, and the girls attended a bookclub meeting at another library.  I got to visit with two homeschooling buddies today, too, while we were at the libraries.

This weekend promises to be jam-packed with lots of family activities.  Steady Eddie’s aunt and uncle are visiting from Florida, and they brought two of their grandchildren with them.  It’s always so good to spend time with them!  Of course, we’ll also celebrate Father’s Day this weekend.  I’m a actually bit bummed right now because a house we had our eye on (and one that I honestly had my heart set on) has apparently sold, but I’m walking in faith and believing that God will lead us to the right home for us in his time.  In fact, we’re not 100% convinced we’re not in the right home for us already (with some remodeling).  :-)

What are you thankful for this week?

Read Aloud Thursday–That Is NOT a Good Idea! by Mo Willems

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I have a confession:  I’m not personally a huge Mo Willems fan.  My girls and I never really got the Elephant and Piggie books.  Knuffle Bunny was a much bigger hit here, but I still wouldn’t consider it an all-time favorite.  His latest offering, That Is NOT a Good Idea!, puts me a little more firmly in his camp.  The thing about Willems‘ books is that they are fairly simple plot-wise, and this one is no exception.  It’s the story of a wily fox and a sweet and innocent little goose.  The fox spends the bulk of the story enticing the goose to go with him for a stroll.  The story line goes back and forth between the goose/fox and the cute little goslings on the cover that reiterate the title sentiment:  ”That is NOT a good idea!”  The story ends with a total reversal, a perfect example of dramatic irony.  (For this reason, this picture book would make a great teaching tool for older students learning about this particular literary device.)  Besides the dramatic irony, the other thing that makes this picture book so great are the illustrations and the format.  It’s reminiscent of an old-time movie, with black-and-white text-filled frames interspersed among the color illustrations.  Even the fox looks like an old-time villain.  Lulu, my very sophisticated nine year old, has even picked this one up and re-read it, and that alone makes it a Highly Recommended title.  (Balzer + Bray, 2013)

What’s on your read-aloud shelf this week?  Leave a link to your blog post below.  If you’re not a blogger, tell us about it in the comments!

The Hidden Art of Homemaking: chapter 8–”Food”

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Food is something I definitely know a lot about.  :-)  I come from a long line of big eaters and good cooks.  (True story:  once my grandfather was told by his doctor to not take a certain medication on an empty stomach.  My Papaw’s reply?  ”That would be impossible.”)  Still, though, I’m not without my angst and conflict over food, mostly because I need to lose the baby weight in order to be able to fit into my clothes.  Also, there are so many, many mixed messages about food nowadays:  what’s safe?  What isn’t?  What’s good for you?  What isn’t?  It’s enough to make a dietitian’s head spin, let alone mine!  Thankfully, though, Schaeffer’s chapter on food isn’t about any of this.  In fact, I’d say that she breathes a bit of sanity into a topic that can be quite crazy-making.

Here’s the truth:  I like to cook (most of the time) and I like to eat.  However, I give very little thought to making eating an experience–either visually or relationally.  In fact, the only thing I’ve ever really given thought to making pretty are the birthday cakes I used to make for my children.  (I’ve since even mostly given that up.)  Reading Schaeffer’s thoughts on the importance of food and feeding others really made me stop and consider this.  I’ll be honest:  at this point in my life, I’m looking for ways to make my life simpler, not more complicated.  I don’t feel like that’s Schaeffer’s objective in all this–to complicate matters, but I did note that she frowns on assigning a certain type of food for each day of the week. This is a common simplification strategy for busy households!  Again, though, I do love the heart of her message:

If the one who cooks is the wife in a family, her attitude toward the marriage as a whole should be to think of it as a career.  Being challenged by what a difference her cooking and her way of serving is going to make in the family life gives a woman an opportunity to approach this with the feeling of painting a picture or writing a symphony.  To blend together a family group, to help human beings of five, ten, fifteen and sixty years of age to live in communication with each other and to develop into a ‘family unit’ with constantly growing appreciation of each other and of the ‘unit’ by really working at it, in many different areas, but among others in the area of food preparation, is to do that which surely can compare with blending oils in a painting or writing notes for a symphony.  The cook in the home has opportunity to be doing something very real in the area of making good human relationships.  (124-25)

I get this, though honestly a lot of the time mealtime feels a bit more like Alice’s description than Edith Schaeffer’s.  At least Schaeffer gives me something to strive for, right?  I do love Schaeffer’s emphasis on serving others in a Christlike way.  I also love this bit:

Often one is asked, “how does one get children to have compassion and love for others?” One important way is by demonstrating love and compassion in action, not just talking about it.  I do not mean organizational action but human care, in taking time, thought, energy, imagination, and creativity to fulfil some total stranger’s need.  Nothing can be given in a ‘course of study’ which can substitute for the day to day observation on the part of the children in the home of a mother or father who truly treat human beings as human, and not machines.  It is of course costly, in time and energy.  ”What a waste of time!” some might remark.  But the ‘waste’ is what brings forth the most amazing results, many of which are hidden from us in this life, results in others living and sharing the home; and results in unknown strangers, too.  (131)

 

 


I have to say that reading this book has opened my eyes a little more to the beauty in household tasks.  I mean, I’ve always noticed the beautiful colors of nature, but I actually thought about how gorgeous this sinkful of fruits and veggies was while I was rinsing them.   (HT Carrie)

I’m really thinking about how to apply this new-found thoughtfulness in my home.

I’m linking up with The Hidden Art of Homemaking Bookclub at Ordo Amoris.  You can read my previous bookclub posts here.

Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

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Kisses from Katie is one of those books I saw around for months and months before I picked it up myself.  Somehow the title turned me off a bit, and after reading it, I don’t think it is at all indicative of the power and beauty of Katie Davis’ story.  If you’re like me and live under a rock part of the time, Kisses for Katie is the story of Katie Davis, a young woman who went to Uganda after her high school graduation to work with orphans and ended up staying and adopting fourteen orphan girls.  That, of course, is the short version.  A straightforward, linear story, this really is not, and honestly, the details are quite fuzzy in my mind (which may have something to do with sleep deprivation, too).  In those rare, quiet moments, though, the overall theme of her story comes to mind and I think about what such obedience and passion for living out the Gospel would look like in my life.

Katie Davis left the American Dream to live in the Third World and care for orphans, AIDS victims, and the destitute.  However, it is more than just a job to her–her heart truly beats for Uganda and for sharing the love of Christ and being his literal hands (to bathe and soothe and treat those suffering from various illnesses and parasites) and feet (to take food, medicine, clothing–whatever the need might be–to those without).  She does it with such joy, such passion, such conviction–I wonder, again, what would my life look like if I just did the little things God has called me to with that sort of spirit?

You can read more about Katie and her life in Uganda on her blog.

Highly Recommended.

 

Friday’s Favorite Five

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Some blessings from this week:

1.  Yesterday for Read Aloud Thursday, I did a bit of whining explaining about why I’ve been a bit absent of late here at my blog.  I was so pleased to know that I have several friends out there still reading my RAT posts, and even more important, benefiting from them.  That makes me happy.  Thus, I have decided to keep up RAT as a weekly event, and I plan to bring back the linky.  Yippee!  (We’ll just pretend like the whole point of yesterday’s post was not that I’m so busy I’m having a hard time finding time to blog.  Nope.  That wasn’t it at all. ;-) )

2.  We’ve had a fun week of visiting family from out of town.  We had a family reunion on Saturday to welcome home a first cousin of mine whom we haven’t seen in over twenty years.  She came with her family from North Dakota to take her son to a football camp at the University of Alabama, and we got to visit with them three times while they were in Alabama.  They even got to attend the DLM’s third birthday party on Monday night!

3.  We are blessed to live in a small area that still has quite a few recreational activities available for kids.  On Tuesday I worked a bit on decluttering and then took my children to a local splash park for a while after lunch.  The best part of all was the fact that I was able to sit in the shade and read while Benny napped in the stroller and the big kids played.

4.  Our Bible Bee materials were delivered early this week.  Steady Eddie and I have barely had a chance to delve into them, but I look forward to doing this study (at the very least) with the girls.  I particularly love the box the materials came in.

 

 5.  Our libraries’ summer reading programs have officially begun!  We signed up for one last week, one yesterday, and I plan to sign up for one more today.  Our libraries have some really fun programs during the summer.  Yesterday we met Tickles the Clown, who made the girls elaborate balloon hats and the DLM a helmet, sword, and belt.  The kids also got to pet her cute little bunnies.  Today we’re looking forward to a fantastic puppet show at another library, as well as a book club at yet another library (if I can manage to talk the girls into participating ;-) ).

Honestly, it has been a pretty stressful and tough week since we’re trying to get our house ready to sell.  I like to look back at the blessings, though.  Last night I sat on the front porch and watched the DLM run full tilt in an all-out attempt to catch all the lightning bugs in our front yard.  Watching him and listening to his little boy chatter was the best tonic I could’ve taken after such a busy week.  I think that was probably the biggest blessing of all:  the realization that I need to slow down, even in the stress and busy-ness, and simply fall in love with my children all over again.  Thank you, Lord, for these blessings.

Read Aloud Thursday

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This summer is busy–crazily so for us.  In addition to still trying to figure out life with four children, we also have on our plate

  1. lots of family events–reunions, visits from out-of-town family, etc.
  2. an extremely busy month at work for Steady Eddie.  When I say extremely busy, I mean that work sometimes encroaches on our family time, which in turn means I’m solo parenting more than usual.
  3. Steady Eddie’s two post-master’s level education classes, the completion of which should get him one semester away from his Ed.S. degree.  He has a whole bunch of work to do between now and the end of June.  Couple that with number one, and . . .yeah.  :-)
  4. putting our house on the market.  Yes, we are.  Actually, we’re somewhere between having the paperwork done and having the pictures taken for the real estate website, etc.  That means in the intervening days, I have a lot of cleaning and refurbishing to do.

Somehow, even in the middle of all the craziness, I am continuing to read aloud to my children a little bit–not every day, but almost every week day that we eat breakfast and/or lunch at home and at a semi-leisurely pace.  It’s the blogging that I’m finding it almost impossible to make time for.  Sometimes I wonder if it’s just time for me to pull the plug on Read Aloud Thursday altogether.  It would make me very sad to do so, especially since it’s the main reason I keep blogging.  Still, though, participation has dwindled down to the point that I’m not sure how much it would actually be missed.  I haven’t promoted it in the past few months like I used to make an attempt to do, mostly because I find all the various other social media venues that are apparently necessary now to really make a blog known are off-putting to me.  I don’t need to spend more time online; I need to spend less time.  I want to read more; I want to be more.  I don’t want to be plugged in all the time.

Still, because I love it so much, I think I’ll keep it going.  I just don’t have anything to share today–nothing that I can really get excited about, anyway.  We are about a third of the way through our current chapter book, and while I have a few picture books I could share, I think I’ll save them for another day.  I just wanted to share what I’m doing and why I’m not around here much these days.  :-)

Are you making time to read aloud this summer?  What are you reading?  Please share (or give me a pep talk ;-) ) in the comments!

 

 

 

Memorial Day weekend–Huntsville Botanical Gardens

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Since Steady Eddie had a long weekend last weekend, we took a little road trip on Saturday to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens.  (Y’all know I love that place, right?)  Here are a few shots from our visit.  Enjoy!

A trip with four children under the age of ten isn’t exactly relaxing, but Steady Eddie and I both took a few moments on the trip to put our feet up.

I love road trips and vacations.  I love seeing new places and things through the fresh eyes of my children.  I’m thankful for the opportunity to live this life with them.  :-)